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(1934) Severed Heads & Mission Conference

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The year 1934 continued with more banditry in the province, but the tension was eased by athletic games, and among the Christians, a mission conference.

In March athletic games were held in the city in the newly laid out athletic grounds. All the athletes competing, however, belonged to General Chen Te-hing whose headquarters were in the city, but who also had forces in Kaomi, Pingtu and Tsimi. The city contributed a few thousand dollars toward travel expenses and prizes.

Toward the end of March news reached Kiaochow that some of Liu Kuei-tang's forces were marching along the Weihsien-Chefoo motor road toward Fushan. General Chen Te-hing was ordered to take his men garrisoned in Kiaochow and Kaomi and chase after Liu. He left of March 29 leaving a small artillery unit behind in Kiaochow.

In late 1933 six people were burned to death by a local bandit gang in the northern part of Kiaochow . Five members of this gang were later captured and shot. Relatives of the six who were murdered cut out the hearts of the executed bandits in revenge. On April 11 five more members of the gang including two who were said to be leaders were captured and shot. Their heads too were cut off and were hung from the city wall of Kiaochow as an object lesson to whoever else might be considering a similar line of business.

In April of 1934 telephone and telegraph communications with the village of Chucheng 70 li southwest of Kiaochow was cut. In Lianghsiang the "Black" General Liu Kuei-tang and government troops clashed. The bandits had surrounded the village but retreated when the government troops arrived leaving a few of their comrade bandits behind, dead. A few days later two spies from the Black General were captured by Chinese naval forces near Kiaochow Bay. With a little encouragement no doubt, they gave information on the strength of the Black General's forces. The prisoners claimed about 2000 soldier-bandits in Kuhsien and 600 more in the eastern sector of Chucheng district. Most of the general's strength consisted of cavalry. We do not know the fate of the spies.We may guess they were not treated to tea and polite conversation.

Though banditry and independent rebel armies continued to harass the population and remain a thorn in the flesh of the local government forces Kiaochow carried on as usual and the missions continued to instruct and help the people. In 1934 the population of the Kiaochow district was approximately 586,700 with 520,000 living in 1570 villages. The city of Kiaochow itself held 60,000 people. This was a lot of people to try and reach for the gospel. But considering the relatively short time the mission had been in Kiaochow, they had made impressive advances into the minds and hearts of the people.

In October the Swedish Baptist Mission in Shantung held their annual conference in Kiaochow. About ninety people were present representing nine Chinese churches with more than 4000 members, 24 Swedish missionaries, 157 Chinese workers involved in evangelism and education and more than 3000 students enrolled in the mission's schools.

Reverend Fritz Peterson from Stockholm, Sweden was also present and brought official greetings from Sweden's Prince Oscar Bernadotte, the brother of King Gustaf of Sweden, and from the Archbishop Eidem of Uppsala. Reverend Peterson's purpose in visiting the mission in Shantung and other missions around the world was to encourage on his countrymen in their work.

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Footnotes

1. Why was it that only the general's troops competed?

2. Name also spelled Liu Kue-tang and Liu Kieu-tang in articles.

3. "Kiaochow troops ordered to suppress disorganized forces of Liu Kuei-tang." Tsingtao Times, April 1, 1934.

4. "Government troops clash with forces of General Liu Kieu-tang in KiaochowDistrikt." Tsingtao Times, April 14, 1934.

5. "Clash with the "Black" general's forces seventy li from Kiaochow: communications between Kiaochow and Chucheng severed". Tsingtao Times, April 15, 1934.

6. Was this just a formality on Rev. Peterson's part or was the prince and the archbishop really aware of what the Baptists were doing in China? From one of the other articles I notice that he he was prominent in the spiritual layman's movement and leader of the annual Sodertalje-conference for the deepening of the spiritual life which corresponded to the Keswick meetings in England.

7. "Fraternal greetings from Swedish dignitaries: Swedish Baptist convention at Kiaochow: Globe-trotter visits Tsingtao." Tsingtao Times, October 19, 1934.

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Foreign Devils: A Swedish Family in China 1894 to 1951
© 2012-14 Lennart Holmquist
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Updated: 10-Feb-2017

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